


Break Through a Lifetime of Stress and Evil

by pearlcaddy



Series: Julie the Vampire Slayer [8]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Buffy The Vampire Slayer Fusion, Angst, Drabble Collection, Drinking, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Kisses, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:42:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29766738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pearlcaddy/pseuds/pearlcaddy
Summary: Kissing in the face of the apocalypse. Some missing moments from the Julie the Vampire Slayer verse.Drabbles based on tumblr kiss prompts
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Series: Julie the Vampire Slayer [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977202
Comments: 14
Kudos: 117





	1. This Darkness is the Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from “Quartz” by TV on the Radio  
> Chapter title from "Beautiful Crime" by Tamer
> 
> These were originally posted on tumblr when I was filling kiss prompts, but I figured I’d share them here for non-tumblr people/so the whole verse is in one place.
> 
> _Kiss Prompt: A kiss so desperate that the two wind around each other, refusing to let go until they are finished_

**February 2022**

Luke’s least favorite apocalypses (because he’s at that point in his existence where he has preferences for this kind of thing) are the ones where he and Julie need to be in different places during the final fight. Maybe it’s better, because he sometimes gets distracted whenever she’s in danger. But they also work really well together in the field, and he feels like she’s safer when he’s around. (He refuses to think about when that hasn’t been true.)

And honestly, he’s more distracted by that constant worry in his gut when he’s away from her. The terrified what ifs that absorb what Alex describes as his “already limited brain power.”

So when his part in the battle against Apocalypse Attempt #13 is finally over, he’s covered in wounds largely because of how little attention he's been paying to his safety. Not fatal wounds—cosmetic ones that will heal within minutes. But enough to hurt and bleed.

Doesn’t matter though. He immediately poofs to the site of the main battle.

He’s injured enough that his Julie locating skills aren’t at their best. He knows this. This has happened before. But it’s still hard not to panic when he appears at an abandoned pile of rubble that used to be a mall... and finds no sign of his Slayer.

“Jules?” he calls frantically. “Julie?”

He hears the sounds of nearby punching, and rushes toward them. “Jules?”

But it’s Reggie, fighting off a vampire. Holding his own pretty well in spite of his lack of powers.

Luke would step in, but he knows how important it is to Reggie to contribute. To prove that mortal humans can help out in the fight against evil just as well as the supernatural ones. So since Reggie’s handling himself well, Luke lets him be.

Spinning in place to try to find his Slayer, Luke screams out with a voice rapidly shifting in hysteria. “Jules?? Jules??”

And finally, from across the expanse, near what used to be a record store, Julie staggers into view. “Luke?” she calls back, voice weak. But as soon as her eyes land on him, she starts sprinting toward him.

He rushes to her, but he doesn’t have her Slayer strength and she reaches him first.

Before he can even ask if she’s okay, she launches herself into his arms, capturing his mouth in an instant as her legs wrap around his waist. Her mouth against his is fierce and desperate, and he can taste the salt of her sweat and tears on his lips. He captures her bottom lip and sucks at it, needing to feel the warmth of her living, breathing skin in his mouth to assure himself that she’s okay, that she’s alive, that they’ve survived. Gripping her in his arms so tightly that the kiss is almost uncomfortable, slotting them together like frantic puzzle pieces as she clings their faces together.

He’s not sure how long it is before she finally unlatches their lips with a gasp. “Sorry, need to breathe.”

“Puny mortal." It's meant to be a joke, but his voice trembles too hard with relief.

Unlocking her legs from behind his back, she slips down to stand in front of him. “I’m okay,” she assures him before he can even ask.

“Me too.” Illogical as it is, he knows that she always worries when she sees him like this. Apparently it's hard to see the love of your life covered in wounds, even if they're purely cosmetic. He takes her hands in his and pulls them toward his mouth. Inbetween pressing kisses into the knuckles of her right hand, he asks, “Everyone okay on your end?”

“Yeah. Yours?”

“Yeah.” He kisses the ring on her left hand. “Mayor’s dead?”

“Into bits.”

“That’s my girl.”

She grins and leans in to kiss him again—

“GUYS,” Reggie yells. “A LITTLE HELP PLEASE?”


	2. What a Terrible Time to be Alive if You're Prone to Overthinking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from “Pretty Shining People” by George Ezra
> 
> _Kiss Prompt: One person has to bend down in order to kiss their partner, who is standing on their tip-toes to reach their partner’s [Willex]_

**August 2018**

“Okay, I would like to go on the record as being very against this whole zombie army thing.”

From his spot up in the loft over the Magic Box showroom, Willie cuts his eyes down to his pacing boyfriend with a bemused chuckle. “I don’t think Caleb gives us a vote on his apocalypse plans, babe.”

“How is that fair? He gets to veto all of our plans to save the world, and we just have to deal with his attempts to end it?”

“He’s raising an evil horde, not an evil democracy.”

But his boyfriend continue to work the floor of the Magic Box like he’s trying to dig his way down into the earth. It’s very classic Alex, and it tugs fondly at Willie’s heart. Being alive for a millennium has made him a bit immune to the apocalypse churn. Someone’s always trying to end the world, and yet the thing has stubbornly continued to turn. Part of Willie understands that that’s down to a lot of effort and planning and fighting and sacrifices. But there’s another part of him that feels like Caleb’s plan will just fold in on itself if the whole Scooby gang stays at home and orders a pizza instead of going into battle next week.

He’s definitely not going to say that to Alex though, both because he knows that it’s nonsensical optimism and because he suspects that his already tightly wound and stressed boyfriend would implode. Possibly literally, with all the magic that courses through him.

“Babe, have you tried screaming?” he asks gently as he pulls an ancient tome out of the loft bookshelf.

“I don’t want to scream. I want Caleb to scream, and then vanish into a hell dimension, and stop trying to end the world for five seconds, and…”

Willie flicks a finger at the book and lets it magically float down toward Alex.

“I promise you can handle this spell.”

“I’m not worried about the spell.” Willie raises an eyebrow. “Okay, I am worried about the spell, but I’m also worried about our friends, and the magical battery, and the fate of the world, and did I mention the army of zombies? Cause I feel like you’re being very casual about that, and I don’t think ‘army of zombies’ is casual.”

Oh no, he’s working himself into a lather. Willie starts climbing down the ladder, rooting through his mind for something calming to say, but coming up empty. His boyfriend needs something else to focus on, something positive to spiral over. There’s a ring burning a hole in Willie’s pocket, but… that needs to be bigger. Not a giant gesture—that would stress Alex out—but something more than just words in the Magic Box.

“You know what we should do?” Willie asks casually.

“Cry?”

“Move in together.”

Silence. Partway down the ladder, Willie stops and glances over at Alex, whose mouth hangs open in shock.

Willie’s never been a nervous person. Worries are easy for him to push away, always have been. But Alex is frozen, and the former vengeance demon is finding it hard to ignore the flutter in his gut.

“… or not. No pressure.”

“You want to move in with me?”

“Obviously. You’re hella cute.” A small, encouraging smile peeks through Alex’s stunned expression, and Willie secures one hand on a step of the ladder so he can half turn to face his boyfriend. “Doesn’t have to be a big thing. Just… why spend time apart when we could _not_ spend time apart, right?”

Alex sidles up to the ladder and nods up at him. “I can’t argue with that.”

“Only if you want to though. Like I said, no—“

“Of course I want to.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” The grin spreading over Alex’s face leaves his eyes dopey in that way Willie loves, and he can’t stop himself from bending over. Alex immediately pops up on the balls of his feet as Willie captures his chin and brings their mouths together in a soft kiss. They’re slightly too far apart—it’s not a great kiss, their lips straining too hard to meet. But it’s a kiss that comes before a lifetime together, the kind of kiss that makes that ring in his pocket feel even warmer and more inevitable.

The kind of kiss that reminds him that this tightly-wound, anxious warlock is _his._

As Willie pulls his mouth away, he smiles breathlessly. “Right on.”

Alex’s grin is so broad that it looks like it’s trying to split his face in half, and it takes him a moment to tamp it down enough to form words. “Do you think apartment hunting is easier after an apocalypse?”

“Only seems fair. Apocalypse should work for us sometimes, right?”


	3. Can You Feel My Heart?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from “Scars” by Boy Epic
> 
> _Kiss Prompt: A breathy demand: “Kiss me” - and what the other person does to respond_

**July 2018**

“Everything’s spinning!”

Luke hangs back, watching his Slayer spin in place in the middle of her bedroom as she clutches a near-empty bottle of tequila. “Jules, you’re the one who’s spinning.”

She stops short, peering back at him with an unfairly cute, crinkled up face. “It’s still spinning.”

“Can you give me the bottle?” He holds out a hand.

She yanks it back to her chest, hugging it protectively. “But it’s my friend.”

“Jules.”

She pouts, but tosses it to him, overly aggressive. “Spoil sport. Are all Watchers as unfun as you?”

He shoots her an exasperated look, but she’s too drunk to read it. “Will you lie down please?”

With an indignant huff, she crawls across her bed, making a beeline for the row of pillows by the headboard. She plucks a stuffed pig from behind the pillows, shooting Luke an indignant glare like she thinks he’s going to judge her. He holds up his hands, hoping he’s the picture of innocence. Humming suspiciously at him, she flops onto her back and hugs the pig to her chest, fixing her eyes on the ceiling with a heavy sigh.

He hovers by the door, not sure if he should leave. But with her dad and stepmother out of town, there’s no one else to take care of her if she needs anything. And he’s worried.

“Was there a reason you were drinking so much tonight?” he asks gently, hoping it doesn't come across as judgmental. She had too many drinks at Alex’s birthday party, and then had snagged the bottle of tequila on her way out, leaving him scrambling after her to drive her home. He’s never seen her like that before.

“I’m a bad friend,” she tells the ceiling, as if it’s a complete answer.

“How’s that?”

She rolls her head to the side to look at him. Something about the soft directness of her gaze and the gentle yellow light of the bedside lamp glowing in her hair makes his heart catch in his chest. Her face twists up and she pats the bed next to her.

He almost refuses but it doesn’t matter how close he is to her. How many times does he have to remind himself of that when he’s around her? He sits gingerly at the edge of her bed, keeping his body mostly turned away.

She slowly wiggles the pig’s ears back and forth. “I’m glad Alex is happy and I’m really glad he found Willie. But sometimes being around them makes—“ Her throat catches, and he realizes what she’s about to say with a lick of dread in his stomach. Yanking her gaze away from him, she directs her next words at the pig. “Makes me feel lonely.”

The knowledge punches him in the heart. A lot of the time, it’s easy to pretend that the way they feel about each other, and the sheer impossibility of those feelings, doesn’t matter. That the feelings are inevitable, that there’s nothing to be done about them, that there’s no point trying to deny them, that it doesn’t harm either of them to be almost-but-not-quite.

Then there are times like these, when she feels lonely and he can’t hold her hand.

“I’m sorry,” he offers.

She slides her gaze over to him and shakes her head. “Not your fault.” But her eyes sparkle with tears, and it’s a vivid reminder that he should be more responsible. He should cut off… whatever this is.

Then she waggles her hand out for the tequila again, and he’s reminded that she’s definitely too drunk for this conversation. “I’m gonna get you some water, and I’m gonna need you to drink it.”

He starts to get up so he can poof to the kitchen, but she sits bolt upright. “Wait!”

“What?”

“Don’t go,” she begs.

“I’ll be right back. I’m just getting water.”

She shakes her head, tears starting to run down her face. “I hate when you go.”

Fuck. Sad drunk Julie is too honest.

“Jules—“

“Do you miss me when I’m gone?”

Her voice is small and desperate in a way he almost never hears it. In a way that hurts acutely. “You’re too drunk for this conversation.”

She shakes her head again, this time like she’s trying to shake away the alcohol. “It’s not a combertation.”

Oh god. “Yeah, it’s definitely not a combertation.”

“I just want to know. Please, Luke?” She pouts up at him and he melts.

But only enough to offer her an “I do. Can I go get you some water now?”

“No! You need to fix the loneliness!” She starts to cry again, hugging the pig to her chest like a lifeline.

He doesn't need to breathe, so why does it matter that he feels like he can't breathe through his pain? “How do you want me to do that?”

Her eyes pull back up to his, and her voice comes out breathy but insistent. “Kiss me.”

For fuck’s sake. He’s the sober one, and now he’s going to cry.

He wants to bounce the thought away. Like it won’t hurt him if he can just refuse to absorb the words. But her eyes are glistening, her lips trembling, her whole body shaking, and that urge to take care of her—to protect this superhero from the world and anything that tries to hurt her—overwhelms him.

So he wraps a finger around the pig’s tail and tugs it gently from her hands. Keeping his eyes on hers, he places a kiss to the pig’s snout, and then passes it back to her. She clutches the pig like it’s become precious, and brushes its snout against her mouth. But only for a split second, because then she breaks down in tears and buries her head in the pig’s side. On instinct, Luke reaches out for her shoulder, but his hand passes through her.

Intellectually, Luke knows he doesn’t have a heart anymore. But then why is it breaking?

He poofs to the kitchen. Grabbing a glass and filling it with water, he tries to take the moment away to steady himself and reel back his own tears. It doesn’t really work, but at least he can pull on the mask.

When he poofs back up to her room, he stays clear of the bed, setting the glass on her nightstand. “Julie, can you please drink that?” he whispers.

Without pulling her eyes far from the pig, she fumbles around the nightstand to grab the glass. She wraps both hands around it, like a small child holding a sippy cup, and sloppily pours the water into her mouth. It’s not until the glass is empty that she finally looks up at him, tears still soaked on her cheeks and eyes still glittering. But steadier at least. Breathing more normally.

If she were sober, he would say what he should say. That after this next apocalypse, whatever Caleb’s planning with the magical battery, Luke’s going to contact the Council and request a new Watcher for her. But she isn’t, so he doesn’t.

And the next morning, when she grumbles her way into the training room with sunglasses over her eyes, but a cheerful, ignorant smile on her face, he convinces himself that it can wait.

Just a little while longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Episodes of Buffy referenced in this chapter:  
> • "What's My Line? Part One" (aka the pig, Mr. Gordo)


	4. Looking for a Breath of Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "Breath of Life" by Florence + The Machine
> 
> _Kiss Prompt: Kisses exchanged as they move around, hitting the edges of tables or nearly tripping over things on the floor before making it to the sofa, or bed_

**March 2021**

“I’m not complaining,” Luke manages to get out between kisses as they stumble into their apartment, “but it’s very weird that slaying makes you so, uh, enthusiastic.”

Julie kicks their door shut behind her and grips his hair between her fingers, jerking his head closer as she tugs on his lower lip with her teeth. “Adrenaline? Destroying the forces of darkness? Not dying? What’s not to like?” she pants.

“Some of us _can’t_ die,” he rasps proudly as he plants fierce kisses across her jaw, making his way to the spot behind her ear.

“Extremely weird brag.” As he backs her up into their living room, her hip slams against the corner table. “Ow!”

His hand finds the spot and rubs it. Gentle at first, but quickly morphing into a firmer grip as he yanks their hips together and tries to spin her in the other direction. Only to knock them into their floor lamp. “Ow!” she cries.

He rubs her head, clutching her close as he tries to maneuver them to the couch. But his foot catches on the carpet and he stumbles back into their coffee table, going through it. As he falls backwards, he accidentally pulls her with him and her shin bangs into the sharp corner.

“Ow!”

She jerks out of the kiss and clutches her shin, trying to rub the pain out of the bone. Then she pauses, eyeing the path they took. “Wait, have you been phasing through stuff this whole time???”

He chuckles nervously, scratching the back of his head. “Um…”

“What the hell!? Not fair!”

His face twitches up guiltily before he shrugs tentatively. “Don’t I deserve some perks for the whole being dead thing?”

She shoves him back onto their couch with more Slayer strength than is maybe necessary. He tumbles over easily, landing on his back with a pout.

“I thought I was the perk.”

A lazy smirk spreads across his face as he slides his gaze up her. “Yeah, you’re pretty good.” She hops onto the couch, settling her knees on either side of his hips. But as she bends over and captures his mouth again, he laughs against her lips, “But the phasing’s a close second.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Buffy references in this, but it accidentally turned into "Firebomb" from Alias.


End file.
